Do I Need a Guitar Teacher ?

I was recently surfing through an Indian Forum for Guitar Learners -  Indian Guitar Tabs and I came across a question from a guy who had just bought a new guitar and wanted to learn how to play it. A very valid question from a beginners perspective. His question stated .. "With so much of material in terms of videos and websites available online, should I learn on my own or should I learn from a teacher ?"

Now guys ... If any of you reading this blog post are very new to learning the guitar and don't know where to start, I insist you all to keep this is mind .... NEVER DEPEND ON SOMEONE ELSE's OPINION on what is right or wrong for you .... no matter how PRO a guitarist that person is ... Obviously facts cant be denied and debated on .. like one cant say that C Major chord does not consist of the notes C-E-G ... its a fact .. cant be debated or denied .. but someone's personal point of view will most likely be debatable in all situations...

This is very much applicable to our highlight question in this post as well. The reason is that the answers will vary from person to person .. Its not that they are wrong in what they suggest to you ... on the contrary they are all right in their own way .. but what was right for them may not be right for you ... Guitar learning is a very personal matter.

I learned the guitar all by myself  and I never spent a single penny for it. The life experience that have shaped me as a person are not the same as your life experiences. I have learned things in ways diversely different than you guys and it holds equally true if you said the same to me. Thus the way any two individuals have developed a way of life and internal ways of learning are very different.

The bottom line is - "You Have to Find Out Yourself if You Need a Guitar Teacher"

A generic methodology I would like to suggest here, to anyone stuck with this question is this:

1. Google up guitar learning websites and sift through atleast 20-25 sites to see if you are comfortable with the material on any of the sites you come across.

This may take a few days but be patient and do it, it may most likely save your money !!!!

I personally like the way - http://guitar.about.com/od/guitarlessons/u/lessons.htm is structured and many of my friends whom I have guided to learn the guitar find this site very very helpful....but that may not be applicable to you ... so go through it see for yourself...

NOTE: I am in no way associated with the above website and it is just something I find useful that I am suggesting to you guys.

 2. a. If nothing clicks... find a teacher and learn the basics and practice well. But DO NOT stop your search for online content. Probably revisit the sites you came across in point 1 and see if they look helpful now. Most likely, a couple of them will.

2. b. If you are able to narrow down to some such sites .. begin your lessons and practice until you reach a point where u are stuck. If you are not able to get your way ... restart at point 1. above.

Discussing issues on your favorite forums will also help.

The key point is knowing what you need to learn next .. and just follow the same methodology as above in any situation u are stuck with and decide for yourself ...

This will ensure that you spend money on a teacher only after exhausting your options and yet you can learn a lot despite minimizing expenses ...

Feel free to post questions regarding this article, if any .. I don't get much time to proof read the content I post here. So in case there is anything that you have not understood in the article, I would certainly answer your queries through comments ....